


Midnight in Thirteen's Recovery Ward

by BlackCat46



Series: Twelve's Team Prompts - Family [2]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Angsty In Some Places, Both shattered but having trouble sleeping, Cute, Fluffy, Haymitch is staying with him overnight, Peeta and Haymitch having father and son bonding time, Peeta's in recovery, midnight chats, super sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-21 21:41:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22837330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackCat46/pseuds/BlackCat46
Summary: Haymitch is watching over Peeta in the dead of night, and the two have an in-depth chat about life, the future, and their love lives.
Relationships: Haymitch Abernathy & Peeta Mellark, Haymitch Abernathy/Effie Trinket
Series: Twelve's Team Prompts - Family [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1641742
Comments: 8
Kudos: 62





	Midnight in Thirteen's Recovery Ward

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, and welcome to your second dose of fluffy parent/child bonding, featuring Haymitch and Peeta. Enjoy.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games, its characters, or its world. All rights go to Suzanne Collins, and I am not Suzanne. I just like playing around with her characters.

The quiet grunt from the bed jolts Haymitch out of his precious few minutes of sleep. Here he was, thinking that he'd get some peace after Peeta was released into the regular part of the hospital, finally stable enough to be trusted not to make a bolt for Katniss in an attempt to murder her, but no. If anything, the last few months have been more hectic and sleepless than the ones prior. "Haymitch?" Peeta asks quietly.

"I'm here, boy," Haymitch mumbles. "You feeling all right?"

"Where are we?" Peeta asks.

In his half-asleep daze, Haymitch straightens up, yawns, and rubs his eyes in an attempt to clear his exhausted mind. "Thirteen's hospital," he mumbles. "You remember?"

Peeta nods, then shifts closer to his mentor. "I remember a lot," Peeta murmurs. "Prim said something about Twelve. My family's bakery being gone, my parents with it."

"Yeah," Haymitch mutters, the weight settling a little more heavily in his chest. "Yeah, she shouldn't have said that. Would have been better to say later on."

"My dad and brothers were innocent, you know," Peeta murmurs. "They... They suffered too."

All of a sudden, Haymitch doesn't feel as exhausted as he did. "What do you mean?" he asks quietly, trying not to be too abrupt with Peeta.

"Mom hit them too," Peeta tells him quietly. "I wanted to move Dad and my brothers in with me, but Dad wouldn't leave Mom, and my brothers were too afraid of what she'd do to us if they did. They told me to just run, and I did. I've never been brave, Haymitch."

Haymitch looks at the drip attached to Peeta, administering his morphling, and silently questions the dosage and its effects on Peeta's mind. "Who says you're not brave?" he asks quietly.

"Everyone," Peeta murmurs vaguely. "You've seen both of my Games, Haymitch. You saw what I was like when I came here. You know who I am, what I am. I'm not brave, or resourceful. You told Katniss that she doesn't deserve me, she's not worthy, but you're wrong. She's determined. She has someone to fight for. She's clever, a survivor, she's brave, resourceful, and sometimes even reckless. She won't ever deserve me, she deserves a man who can match her for every point."

"Let me tell you something," Haymitch whispers, leaning in a bit closer so that Peeta can actually hear him. "Her being all that doesn't make her a good person. You're a good person, and brave in ways that aren't action packed. Bravery isn't all this... Fighting, shooting, kicking out at things. Bravery can be shown in something like admitting you love someone, or willingly standing up to someone for someone else. Bravery is risking your life in sneaky ways to achieve your own goals. You're not a fighter or a hunter, no. But you're smart in ways that girl couldn't even dream of being. You're emotionally intelligent, you're compassionate, you're empathetic. That sort of stuff takes a courage you don't even realise if you want to share it. You're a good person with a lot of baggage. And that girl's lucky to have you, just as much as you're lucky to have her. You two are night and day, but that's how you work. You don't have to match her for everything to be a good couple."

"Like you and Effie?" Peeta asks, a hint of a teasing grin on his face, so much like his usual self.

Haymitch chuckles and says "This is about you and Katniss, leave Effie out of it."

"Come on," Peeta whines quietly, playfully. "I know there's something, and I had a bet on with Katniss. If you and Effie are a thing, I get her to have a picnic with me in the meadow. If not, she gets cheese buns. You saying that we don't have to match for us to be a good couple sounds a lot like you and Effie."

Haymitch lets out a sound that's halfway between an exasperated sigh and a laugh. "All right, all right," he says, grinning. "There's... A little more than friendship. We've kept it label-free, and it's staying that way. But she's more than a friend to me, and we'll leave it there."

Peeta smirks and says "That's all I needed." Silence follows for another minute before he quietly asks "Is it weird that you and Effie have sort of taken over my parents' roles?"

"No," Haymitch says. "I know for a fact that she thinks of you kids as hers, and I think of you both as mine. It's flattering that you kids think of us as your parents."

Peeta nods and says "Yeah, but Effie's a better mom than mine was."

Haymitch nods and says "Agreed. No offence, kid, but your mom was a nasty piece of work."

"None taken," Peeta says. "I think she had an argument with Effie once, just after the Tour."

"Probably, two headstrong women with half a picogram of common sense between them anywhere near each other," Haymitch chuckles. "Shots were bound to be fired."

"Effie was really angry after that," Peeta recalls quietly. "And Mom called the next day to yell at me over her. As if I've got any chance at all of controlling Effie."

Haymitch laughs at the idea. "Yeah, she had a few choice words about your mom, too," he says softly. "Gave me a two hour lecture on how I should protect you from, and this is verbatim, _that horrid old hag who abuses our poor boy_."

He tries and fails to quote Effie with a Capitol accent, ending up sounding like he has a sore throat. Peeta bites his arm to stifle his laughter and mumbles "You sound like you have a sore throat and a helium addiction when you do that."

"I'm sure she _does_ have a helium addiction," Haymitch mutters. "She was right, though, the way you've been treated by your mom is disgusting."

"You know, for a little while in prison, Effie was with me," Peeta whispers. "She bit through a guard's ankle."

"She did what?" Haymitch asks, not having heard about this.

"She bit through a guard's ankle. Her teeth severed the Achilles tendon," Peeta chuckles fondly. "Best moment in there by far. That's why her teeth are chipped, she bit again and chipped her teeth."

"Why didn't they yank them?" Haymitch asks.

"Kept her pretty," Peeta says. "And I think they were too afraid to be bitten in the attempt to pull her teeth out, though they'd never admit to that."

Haymitch grins and says "That's our girl. The most terrifying five foot three twig in the world."

Peeta smiles and asks "Do you love her back?"

Haymitch pales slightly, then turns red. "It... It's more complex than that," he says softly.

"Effie and I have a lot in common," Peeta says quietly. "She doesn't love easily, but when she does, it's with everything she has, just like me. She's in love with you, Haymitch. It's not really that complex. I won't tell her for you, you know. Do you love her?"

Haymitch seems to be at war with himself for a few minutes, silently raging between sides of his conscious, before he eventually breaks the silence and quietly says "Yeah. Yeah. I should really get it together, that shouldn't be a tough question to answer."

"No, it shouldn't," Peeta agrees. "But I won't say anything to her for you. You tell her in your own good time."

"She should know by now," Haymitch mutters. "Kind of how Katniss is oblivious to how much you love her still. Women just can't read signals."

"If the signals are _I hate you_ and staring at certain areas of her body, then saying she's ugly, it's no wonder she's confused and not getting the impression that you love her," Peeta chuckles. "Kind of how Katniss thinks I hate her when I tried to strangle her. It's not exactly a sign of love, is it?"

"Depends on the context and consent of the strangling, strangler, and strangled," Haymitch chuckles softly. "In that situation, it wasn't. _Was it_?"

"No," Peeta whispers. "I wish it could have been. I still feel bad for it."

"Did you mean to do it?" Haymitch asks quietly, dreading the answer.

"No," Peeta repeats softly. "No. I wouldn't ever hurt her intentionally. I wouldn't ever hurt anyone intentionally. That's what scares me. What if this has messed me up forever? What if we think it goes away, but then it happens again and nobody is around to protect her? Or if it happens to you or Effie? What if Katniss and I have children and it happens? I don't want to become my mother, Haymitch. I don't want my kids to look at me with fear like I looked at my mom."

"Kid, Katniss will learn to handle your episodes, and she'll know to get out if you start exhibiting the signs. She'll learn your triggers, and so will you. You'll learn coping mechanisms. And if Effie's near you, chances are, I will be, too. And vice versa. You have no need to fear. Katniss will protect any kids you kids have, and if you've got kids, it's because you've either stopped having episodes or you can manage them. That girl's too cautious, she'll ensure that you're both more or less stable before daring to even consider having a baby," Haymitch tells him. "You'll never become your mom. Ever. You're too gentle in your nature for that. That's like expecting Prim to turn around and start stabbing a patient to death. Just wouldn't happen."

Peeta smiles, then reaches out to grab Haymitch's hand. "Thank you," he murmurs. "For everything."

The words resonate painfully in the very depths of the older man's soul, the quiet reminder of the last time he'd seen Peeta as unchanged as he could have been after a trip into the arena, the last time he'd seen him secure in the knowledge that only he was in his own mind, and the last time he'd known an unaltered Peeta Mellark. In a moment of heartache, guilt, and desperation to glue the boy he's come to love as a son back together, he shifts forward to hug him close. Peeta returns the hug immediately, clinging tightly to his mentor and pressing his face into Haymitch's shoulder. "I'm sorry I couldn't get to you, Peeta," he murmurs quietly. "And that I can't fix what damage was done."

"I don't blame you," Peeta whispers. "That tracker would have got everyone killed. You weren't at fault for what happened."

"I should have protected you. The plan was always to get you out too. I should have forced them to get you," he murmurs. "It was negligent and cruel. You should never have gone through this."

"Better me than you or Katniss," Peeta murmurs. "I'm used to being beaten up, remember?"

"Doesn't make it right," Haymitch mutters. "Kids should never be subjected to violence like that, no matter what."

"It won't be happening again, Haymitch," Peeta whispers. "Mom's gone, and when the war's over, the Games will be over too."

Haymitch gives Peeta a gentle squeeze, mindful of his many injuries, and whispers "It should never have happened in the first place."

"Some good came of it," Peeta says. "I know what not to do if I get to be a dad, learning from my mom's parenting. The Games gave me a family that's way better than my birth family, a girlfriend, and skills I would never have got without them. Being in that prison taught me that Effie's a way better mom than my birth mom could ever have been. All the experiences since the start of the Seventy Fourth Games has shown me that you'll fight for Katniss, Effie, and me. It helped you sober up."

"Don't remind me," Haymitch mutters. "I'm trying to be empathetic here, it's not easy."

Peeta snorts quietly, then says "I think it's given you a reason to fight."

"Nah, it's done more than that, kid," he whispers. "You three brats, you, Katniss, and Effie, gave me a reason to live, not just survive. Got a lot to thank you three for, and no way to show it that's not grouching about you all bothering me."

"You might need to take some social skills classes when things get better after the war, there's some stuff that even we haven't taught you yet," Peeta jokes.

"All right, lie back down, you cheeky so-and-so," Haymitch chuckles, helping Peeta lie down, then ruffling his hair. "I ain't taking social classes, ever. I don't do social stuff."

"You also don't do bonding, but look at you now," Peeta whispers, grinning widely.

"You ruined it, kid," Haymitch tells him, but the grin on his face proves that he's nowhere near angry. He softens a little and says "Anyway, I'm an old man, I'm allowed to be mushy, I just got my kid back."

"And your girlfriend," Peeta adds, laughing quietly.

"Yeah, and the Princess. Lucky me," Haymitch says, his irritated act ruined by the broad grin on his face. "You should catch some more sleep, kid, those nurses will be furious if they find out that I've had you laughing before those ribs have had a chance to heal."

"Ribs never fully heal, they're too busy always moving," Peeta says. "Unless I stop breathing again, which I don't plan to do."

"You'd better not, do you know how much effort everyone around here's gone to in order to keep you breathing, boy?" Haymitch asks, chuckling. "You're not dying on us until you're ninety at the earliest."

"Got you," Peeta chuckles, then lets out a massive yawn. "All right. You should sleep too, you look exhausted."

"Look better than I feel," Haymitch sighs. "Wake me up if you need anything, all right?"

"All right," Peeta agrees. "Night, Dad."

A lump forms in Haymitch's throat as he registers what Peeta's said, and he has to swallow several times before he can whisper "Night, kiddo."

The words echo inside his head long after he's fallen asleep again.

**Author's Note:**

> So there we go. Some Haymitch and Peeta bonding. These two just don't spend enough time being adorable for us. As always, let me know what you thought, any constructive criticism you have, any prompts you want filling, et cetera.
> 
> Much love and light to you all. Until next time. Cat xxx


End file.
